The Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) reported that on Aug. 4, a mine manager at Wooten Sand & Gravel Inc., Miller County, Ark. died while performing maintenance on a bulldozer.
While kneeling on the bulldozer’s track, the victim accidentally engaged the lever that put the bulldozer in reverse. The bulldozer track moved the victim to the rear of the bulldozer where he was run over.
This is the 17th fatality reported in 2022, and the seventh classified as “Machinery.”
MSHA recommends the following best practices to avoid this type of accident:
- Operators should train miners on safe maintenance procedures:
- Turn off the engine.
- Block equipment against motion.
- Operators should make sure miners are in a safe location in relation to machine parts that can move.